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Maybe you should get your facts right.

According to the LGP blog the Loki bankruptcy almost took Tux Games down with them since they could no longer buy product on credit.

I downloaded mine before playing, and I must say that they have a feel for being a smaller form-factor than what you would expect from non-transient development group.

I've been waiting for a couple for a while and that's all-right because I have plenty of things to do on the nearby server. Majesty is interesting to watch for it's moments of non-interactivy. What I find somewhat interesting was Ballistics (screens http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/screenshots.php?id=13& ).

I used to only use my Windows box to play games. Now the humble bundles have removed that need.

You might want to check out RuneSoft and LGP as well.

Reason. Linux users refuse to pay for their software so it's not worth targeting it as a platform.

Reason: Ports are years late and often cost more than the original launch price while the Windows version is already in the bargain bin. A rational being will realize that the 30£ = ~$47 vs 5$ will very soon pay for a Windows license, hell even a dedicated Windows PC if you game a little. I'd love to buy more Linux versions, but not at such a craptastic value.

No.

Longer answer:

LGP News

Wed, June 23 2010
Is grateful to Slashdot for finally noticing that LGP exists, after militantly ignoring any game release we have made for the last 5 years, as soon as reports of our death come through, we get a front page story. Slashdot - Your support of Linux is inspirational.
For others who wonder, we are very much alive. We have had a couple of staffing issues on the admin side of things, which explains most of our silence, but work is progressing on more than one unannounced title. We will offer further updates as and when there is news to update you with.

LGP's blog shows that the company is still active. Last update was from April 5, 2010.

I believe it runs on GNU/linux/amd64 as you call it, even though I have only tried on an Ubuntu x86. And as long as LGP stays a float I assume they will produce patches if OpenAL etc need it, they have at least done so far.

Check out Sacred for a nice commercial RTS game for linux. Another excellent port from Linux Game Publishing. Buy the game at Tux Games.

Check out Sacred for a nice commercial RTS game for linux. Another excellent port from Linux Game Publishing. Buy the game at Tux Games.

The only company I could believe shutting down the DRM when they die is Valve's Steam, and I'm still fairly skeptical of that.

LGP has stated that everyone in the company is authorized to release patches disabling DRM if the company goes under...

All LGP employees have the authority to produce, on their own, and without the order of the company, such patches, should the company be unable to produce them or to request their production, on the event that LGP ceases trading.

according to their logic http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/press_releases/200806241.txt
***********
It is estimated that many more pirated copies of LGP games exist, than do original copies. We obtained this estimate by seeding the download sites with a number of broken copies of our games, and monitored the number of requests for technical support that referenced the known bug we had inserted.
***********

So they gave out a free copy of the game and effectively made it available to many millions of people, and were _shocked_ when people downloaded it?!?

Who would of thunk it? If you make it available people _will_ take it!

It's a moot point anyway... it'll take some enterprising thief about 3 hours to figure out how to crack it and re-release it to the web. When will these people realize that the tools you use to lock it down are the same set of tools thieves have to unlock them.

I'll answer each question in turn: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I read LGPs' supplemental press release at http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/press_releases/200806241.txt but found it no more informative than the original article.

I frequently travel for work and occasionally buy a game, so I sent an e-mail to LGPs' sales address asking how long their copy protection scheme can go between internet connections. If I receive an answer, I'll reply here.

Yet, the thought of wanting to throw one of these games on my system on the day my ISP is hosed and being denied my right to play my legally purchased game because of this pointless rigmarole irks me.

If this was what LGP had done, you would have had some right to be upset. But that isn't what they have implemented - if your network drops out, you can still play. You can play the game for a certain length of time without network access (I'm assuming that's weeks or months) before you have to re-authenticate. You can even re-authenticate via another machine's web browser if your game machine never has network access (surely a rare event these days). That looks as equitable a system as could be envisaged.

Look - read their press release. It actually contains Real Information (TM).

Cheers,
Toby Haynes

http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/press_releases/200806241.txt

How our copy protection works

Our copy protection is an online protection system. There is never a need to have a disc in the drive, or to have the hard copy of the game with you.

When you install, the system will ask you for the key that came with the game, and then for a password, and, optionally, your email address.

Once the key has been verified on the LGP servers, and the password registered then you are good to go, you never need to worry about the system again. It will call to the LGP servers each time the game starts, to verify its details. It does all this in the background. You do not need to enter anything when you start the game.

If you wish to install the game on multiple personal machines, you may do so, using the same password and CD key. This is explicitly allowed.

If you ever lose your password, you can request to have it emailed to you using the key management system, which is readily available. This is why we ask for your email address during registration, your email address will never be used for anything else.

If your machine is not directly connected to the internet, or for some reason your internet connection does not allow direct connection to our servers, the game will allow you to continue to play for a certain amount of time before requesting you re-verify with the LGP key server. If your machine is unable to do this, for instance it does not have an internet connection, or it is firewalled in such a way as to block the connection, or perhaps you are on holiday and are nowhere near an ethernet socket for your laptop, then you may verify your game using a web browser or WAP phone browser. This can be used to indefinitely extend the time that a game may be played on a machine with no direct internet connection, as long as you have SOME internet access.

They missed out on several I know of, including Majesty.

Never fear, the power of Google is here!

Looks like these guys have taken up the gauntlet which Loki had to relinquish... I wish them luck. I'd buy from them, but frankly, I'm trying to give up gaming rather than looking for new games...

I'm not sure that I can happily class myself as a hard-core gamer but what I've wanted to play I've been able to. Doom 3 when the engine came out for Linux and the X2 to re-live the Computer Studies lessons spent skiving on Elite, courtesy of the nice folks at http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/.

All this on Debian testing to so it can't be that hard if I can do it.

Because nobody makes games for linux.

I don't understand why Linux Game Publishing don't get more credit on this page.

The ones that are interested in commercial games on linux, should start buying the ones available. Then there will be more. If few want to spend money on games on linux then there will be less new and exciting games available, it is that simple.

Maybe it was bad business decisions and maybe it was just that there was no profit in porting titles to Linux. The situation might be different today and I hope that someone has the desire, balls and money to step up and try what Loki tried 7 or 8 years ago. But Loki's fate did send a clear message. There's no profit in Linux games.

As another post noted, LGP ports games to Linux and have made enough profit to stay afloat for several years now. Funny that Slashdot, known as a place for a lot of Linux fanbois, the accepted truth is that there is no profit in Linux games and that Loki was the last company to try.

Oh, Slashdot did not bother to inform us that the first commercial racing game was just released for Linux by LGP!

Maybe it was bad business decisions and maybe it was just that there was no profit in porting titles to Linux. The situation might be different today and I hope that someone has the desire, balls and money to step up and try what Loki tried 7 or 8 years ago. But Loki's fate did send a clear message. There's no profit in Linux games.

As another post noted, LGP ports games to Linux and have made enough profit to stay afloat for several years now. Funny that Slashdot, known as a place for a lot of Linux fanbois, the accepted truth is that there is no profit in Linux games and that Loki was the last company to try.

Oh, Slashdot did not bother to inform us that the first commercial racing game was just released for Linux by LGP!

Just a little nitpick, but Loki was not the last company doing commercial Linux ports. The new standard-bearer is Linux Game Publishing, though they've taken a low-and-slow approach and haven't done many big-name games yet.

Oh, one more thing: X3 is being ported to Linux!

http://linuxgamepublishing.com/info.php?id=35

And, the Postal Fudge pack is out for ~$30US

Here's damned near everything you'd want from Postal on one dual-layer DVD: Postal 1, Postal 2: Share the Pain, Apocalypse Weekend, A Week in Paradise (aka "AW7"), and Eternal Damnation. One disc gets you all this for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.

I just wish Cold War was a bit cheaper, but I'm hoping I can get a family member to get a copy for Xmas.

That should be Linux Game Publishing.

Maybe if LGP didn't sell a game for £20.00, then sell an UPDATE for £3.00 which actually doesn't add any new functionality, but merely provides support for that game from LGP and the ability to install future updates, people would be more receptive.

Maybe if Tux Games didn't charge $35 more for Quake IV than Best Buy does for the Windows version, they'd get more sales.

What do you mean by doing "their bit"? Should they keep their mouth shut about the problems they have running the games they want to play, yet shout from the rooftops when something actually IS released that supports Linux? Should they purchase games they don't want, to generate more sales for you, which is really the only thing that's going to entice developers to give your company licenses for more games.

Maybe if LGP didn't sell a game for £20.00, then sell an UPDATE for £3.00 which actually doesn't add any new functionality, but merely provides support for that game from LGP and the ability to install future updates, people would be more receptive.

Maybe if Tux Games didn't charge $35 more for Quake IV than Best Buy does for the Windows version, they'd get more sales.

What do you mean by doing "their bit"? Should they keep their mouth shut about the problems they have running the games they want to play, yet shout from the rooftops when something actually IS released that supports Linux? Should they purchase games they don't want, to generate more sales for you, which is really the only thing that's going to entice developers to give your company licenses for more games.

LGP

http://linuxgamepublishing.com/

LGP has stepped in to fill the void that Loki left. In fact, they've already outlasted Loki and still appear to be pushing on, and several of their games are excellent.

The author misses a few critical points when he looks at Linux games. First, many companies are porting in-house rather than having a third party do the work. Often, these binaries are downloadable from the companies website rather than shipping them on the CD (Quake 3, Neverwinter Nights, Darwinia, etc.). Also - Sometimes things take time. I wouldn't say that Linux gaming is "worse", but is perhaps "different" than it was when Loki was around. Companies are being cautious. Take a look at the slew of high-cost Activision games that Loki managed to score, only to run themselves into the ground. Think that there is perhaps a reason for their fall?

I don't believe that WINE is an appropriate alternative to having a dedicated Windows gaming system. But for those that casually game on Linux, or play more console games than Linux games, we can still find many excellent Linux games available without resorting to using WINE. I feel that the author's turn from discussing Loki ports to using WINE for gaming on Linux misses the bigger picture... Because it simply details his bad experience with using WINE for serious gaming. *NOT ONCE* was a modern native Linux game mentioned, and there are several games that are (in my opinion) MUCH BETTER than many of the Loki offerings. So, basically his gripe is about being unable to play Call of Duty on Linux. Good job on summing up how well a compatibility layer works instead of talking about real Linux games.

I must confess... It really pisses me off when I post announcements about legitimate Linux games from LGP and other companies, and Slashdot mods neglect to inform the community by rejecting the article, further perpetuating the cycle of "sucky Linux gaming" because people are ignorant of the games that *ARE* out there... Yet, crap like this ExtremeTech article manges to get front-page news. Good job mods!

That said, it's my understanding that LGP has a few AAA games coming up that will knock our socks off. Will they be ignored by the Slashdot crew like the last few great games were? I sure as hell hope not, because I'm sick of reading articles like this. IF YOU WANT MORE GAMES ON LINUX, STOP BEING LIKE THIS EXTREMETECH GUY AND BUY LINUX GAMES INSTEAD OF RESORTING TO WINE AND BITCHING ABOUT HOW IT DOESN'T WORK!

You have a linux only system. A game is released for Linux.

The game is NEW FOR LINUX

So what if it was on windows 2 years ago, it is new to Linux, new to the player.

The fact is that newer is not always better, in fact a whole lot of games are just utter rubbish these days. The games that we publish are not always the latest, but before you criticise them, try playing some of them, they are all excellent games and fun to play.

I agree. It neglected to mention actual native Linux games, such as DEFCON, or these. It focused almost solely on running Windows games on Linux. But it didn't even do a good job of that. It focused on saying how much Cedega sucked (it does), and how it's possible to run WoW on crossover. It did NOT seem to mention Wine, and it didn't seem to notice that MOST older games run just fine in Wine.

I do actually dual boot on my main gaming box. But I don't boot into Windows all that often, you might be surprised to learn. I only really boot into Windows for Civ 4, and Battlefield 2/2142. That's about it. In Linux, I run Starcraft, Warcraft, Homeworld, Tropico, Half-Life, Half-Life 2, and many others. No, it's not native. But it does work. And it's nowhere near as sorry a state of affairs as a Mac. And we DO have SOME native games. (not many, but some). Saying that you NEED a dual boot system is just nonsense. I do dual boot as there's some games I just have to have. But I think for the average person, Linux might do the job just fine if you are willing to miss out on some things.

Drop Team
X2:The Threat
Savage 2
Unreal Tournament 2007
Enemy Territory:Quake Wars

Maybe you would enjoy Cold War. One of its modes is pacifist where you can't kill anyone ... which adds a certain edge to sneaking around distracting Russian guards with AK47s. Best of all, it's available for Linux as well as Windows.

Cheers,
Toby Haynes

I really hope LGP or some other Linux porting company jumps on this one. It looks like an incredibly fun time sink.

Costs $15, but well worth it. Also, there are more native Linux games than you might think. Check out http://www.icculus.org/ , http://www.linuxgames.com/ http://www.happypenguin.org/ , http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/ , http://www.tuxgames.com/ , http://games.linux.sk/ , http://games.linux.sk/ , http://www.linux-games.com/ , http://www.linux-gamers.net/ ... Of course for me gaming is just gravy, Linux is my ideal OS for actually getting work done. But I find that games run much more consistently in Linux than in Windows, which makes my gaming flings that much more enjoyable when I do have time for the occasional LAN.

There are much more games for Windows, so if gaming is your number one reason for owning a PC Linux will probably dissapoint you. If you're like me and gaming is secondary, I think you'll get along just fine. ;-)

-AT

Ouch. About 5:00PM pacific time, I entered http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/http://www.linu xgamepublishing.com/ into my browser. It is still trying to load, almost 40 minutes later. I might have been interested in persuing their games for linux, but by tomorrow, i will have forgotten them. Too bad.

LGP might be interrested and they know people who might be willing to port a game.

If you have a game publishing proposal, please see our contacts page for information:
http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/contacts.php

Ryan is a super-busy person, with a decent number of ports under his belt and a lot of contracts already on the table. However, he does seem to be a touchstone, of sorts, of modern porting efforts.

I assume that, since there's a Mac version, there's an OpenGL renderer for it (looking at the webside, it looks like it's 3D). That should ease the porting effort a bit.

Depending on what you're aiming for, exactly, you could also potentially contract with Linux Game Publishing (http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/) or one of its developers (like me -- I did the Majesty port, for one).

Why don't you, and this guy start talking about when the Linux userbase will be large enough for games to be directly ported.

It's not "pie-in-the-sky dreaming", and no it's not a gamer's paradise either, but for now, I have more games for native Linux than I have time to play, and more are being ported all the time.

Endianness and nasty, crufty 32-bit code that makes all kinds of assumptions is the impediment.

If you're using PPC or PPC-64 for the architecture for your console, it's not difficult to migrate the code over

As for API's, I do this sort of thing all the time- you really, really don't know what you're talking about, so you should keep quiet about it.

The code's typically written to an API with an abstraction layer in most well written games- come up with a different abstraction layer and you have the game running on a different API. How in the hell do you think the MacOS and Linux games that DO get ported happen? It's not as you say, no matter what you might think.

Personally, I'm addicted to Majesty. It's like Warcraft, but your units have free will and act according to their own internal AI. So you really have to pay attention to dynamics (e.g. rangers and wizards like to team up with barbarians and go out in large, deadly hunting parties).

I'm not a micro-manager, so this is a lot more fun than watching my units stand still in WC. I just get everything set up, place a few rewards on things I really want to happen, and can trust my heroes to do intelligent things while I work on building my economy. There are a dozen different types of heroes and each type has its own special talents and vices (Elves make you more money, but encourage sloth and prostitution, rangers like to explore the whole board, but often stir up trouble, etc.)

Best of all, there's a Linux version!

Well, some of us ARE working on that very thing. (In all honesty, there's another distribution that I know of that we're working with, but since it's not public knowlege, I can't point people that way- YET.)

Shortly, with the efforts of companies like ourselves, SCI and hopefully others, that is going to change.

(Oh, and on a different note, HOW did you get the ability to have links without the [foo.com] after them? :-)

More aggressively with game developers. I mean its sort of sad that even though there are a handful of active commercial (and non-commercial albeit high quality as in my sig) game developers who are supporting Linux there is still the perception that Linux doesn't have games.

Gentoo seems to get it, but I'd expect to see a more aggressive commercial distribution seriously pimping this and I believe in we really need some good exposure like this.

So it's not really a fair example. Take a look at the harrowing tale. It would be a shame if we collectively forgot this early part of Linux (in business) history and wrote if off as an example of why Linux isn't ready for business. Loki, or more specifically, Scott Draeker wasn't ready for business.

Besides, lets not write off companies like Linux Game Publishing (or ID Software or Epic Games or ..).

Linux Game Publishing also uses the Loki installer for their ports.

Tux Games and Linux Game Publishing are using Linux servers

SCO can bite me as they arent getting a penny from us. I'll spend every penny my companies have to defend our rights under the GPL and run my company into the ground doing it, before I let them have a penny of it.

I call on other Linux companies to make their claim to Linux. Tell SCO that you wont be bullied!

Transgaming have said they will not actively promote compatability with games that have native ports, but this is a lie, their comments made on the Majesty section of their website make it quite plain they consider they are superior to native and they intend to beat native out of the market.

They are determined to ensure that Linux has second rate products and are a slave to Windows for our products and our api.

At Tux Games, we are more determined to ensure Linux has quality products than making a quick buck. We have turned down the opportunity to stock winex compatable games on our store, and we have invested heavily in producing native ports of games through our LGP branch. Native is the only future trhat leaves Linux viable and self-sufficient.

Transgaming have already shown that they dont really care about the Linux market, having ported a game from mac to windows without even bothering to make a Linux version.

Not all Nottingham companies are evil!
{:-)

All LGP titles may be purchased from Tux Games.

And, to be fair, one should note that Hyperion's port of SIN, and Loki's ports of Civilization: Call to Power, Myth 2, Railroad Tycoon 2, Eric's Ultimate Solitaire, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri all also have Linux/PPC support.

All LGP titles may be purchased from Tux Games.

And, to be fair, one should note that Hyperion's port of SIN, and Loki's ports of Civilization: Call to Power, Myth 2, Railroad Tycoon 2, Eric's Ultimate Solitaire, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri all also have Linux/PPC support.

All LGP titles may be purchased from Tux Games.

And, to be fair, one should note that Hyperion's port of SIN, and Loki's ports of Civilization: Call to Power, Myth 2, Railroad Tycoon 2, Eric's Ultimate Solitaire, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri all also have Linux/PPC support.